Social Network Diversity and the Daily Burden of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Abstract

Introduction: To examine the association between social network, daily inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) burden, and related cognitive factors such as loneliness and psychological well-being.

Methods: Using survey data, we compared the relationship between social network diversity and daily IBD burden with multivariable linear regression.

Results: Patients with IBD with higher social network diversity reported a lower daily IBD burden. This association was more common among those who reported a higher degree of loneliness than those with a low degree of loneliness.

Discussion: We should consider diverse social connections as an indicator of risk for higher IBD burden, especially among lonely patients.